This is the replacement copy for the stalled/lost copy on the bookray:
https://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/20/530606/

On its way to mcsar to continue the ray.

Thank you eponine38 for securing a replacement copy and keeping this bookray going. I will read this soon so it can continue its journey.

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Updated July 20, 2018

A most fascinating read. I love the unique narrative style. The writing is lyrical and beautiful, but the tale is so sad. I am very glad to have read the book and I am grateful to eponine38 for getting a replacement copy so that I can get to read the book.

Finally on its way to the next reader. I hope you enjoy this special book.

Book has arrived yesterday - almost two months on the way, I wonder what adventures it had :) It doesn't speak.
Unfortunately the next three weeks I have my holidays. I'm going to leave it for one friend to read and then to read it myself as soon as possible when I'll be home again.
November 2018
I am deeply moved by this story.

Since Thursday book on the way to Bookguide.

I discovered this in my postbox this morning. It wasn’t there last night and we don’t normally have deliveries in the morning. I wonder where it’s been. We’ve had a couple of packages delivered recently to our house which were meant for people in a different street, same house number. Maybe our new postman needs new glasses!

I’ve been hoping to be able to read this ever since a friend reviewed it enthusiastically on Goodreads back in 2013. I’ll try to read it within the month, but, wouldn’t you know it, I have another bookring book to read first and an unusually heavy workload. Watch this space!
********************* My review, added 5 January 2022! *********
At first, the fragmentary way Otsuka tells her story irritates me. Why couldn’t she pull it all together into one story, I thought. But as the book progressed, I came to appreciate the depth of experience she was able to present in this format, building up a rich patchwork of experience, telling the story from a myriad of perspectives.

This is a book about the heartbreak and thankless hard work and lack of agency that is bred of poverty, wherever you come from, wherever and whenever you live, but especially anywhere where people marry without love, out of desperation or duty, and without access to birth control.

Some citizens wondered if they could have spoken out more, tried to prevent the injustice. They missed the Japanese people to start with, but gradually they became a distant memory. New people arrived, new businesses took over, a new normal was achieved. And then the book finished. Why didn’t Otsuka tell us what happened next? By stopping here, she carries on erasing the Japanese experience of internment. Where were they? How we’re they treated? How much freedom did they have? What conditions were they kept in? What happened after the war? Why on earth does Otsuka end on everyone else’s experience of the disappearance of the Japanese? How frustrating!

Just arrived, thanks for sending it on! :)

Arrived today - many thanks! I will start reading it right away, as another BookRay book is on its way to me!

Just received, thank you for sending this on to me.
A special delight to find little post-it notes inside from previous readers, and even more so: two small intricately folded origami cranes hiding in the pages.
What a lovely touch.

I'm so glad I've had the chance to read this novel, on a subject I really have known nothing about before. It drew me in and I enjoyed the special narrative voice. I was just sad at the end that there wasn't more, it did prompt me to go do some extra reading about the Japanese in US.

Sent by post to the next reader in this Ray... happy reading in Greece!

In my hands now! Thank you Carlienca for sending it over! Also thank you for the beautiful card and the tiny notes and especially for the origami paper birds, now they decorate our Christmas tree!

Powerful storytelling in a difficult format. 1st plural is a bit strange in the beginning but soon i got used to its documentary-like images it creates and i finally liked it. Helps to the understanding, on the one hand, of common fate for a certain group of people, and, on the other hand, of the differences between people and how unique each person is, despite prejudice and racism.
In this novel one also gets a powerful image of a dark page in modern American history.

I was amazed by the similarities with Greek immigrant history. I would also like to share a family story i was reminded by this novel. My great aunt was married to a Greek American whom she had only seen on a photo. She took the place of her sewer, who was initially to get to the ship. She decided it against the will of her family, she said "i will save you all from poverty". And so she did, although she was not happy to find out when she reached America, that her husband-to-be already had a girlfriend with whom he later even had a daughter. They got married nevertheless and had no children. A similar story about a greek photo bride is told in the movie The Brides by Pandelis Voulgaris produced by Martin Scorcese. You can see the trailer here:
https://youtu.be/KJhX7BAnXV4

Tomorrow I am sending it off to Portugal!

This book has just arrived here. I will start reading it right away.

I found this an amazing book.
I did love the narrative style. This novel gives a powerful image of private and personal moments, beliefs and thoughts of several women, moments of their lives and of the lives of so many people... so sad.
I have never been an immigrant myself, but this novel did really touched me. Sometimes I had to take a break on the reading: get up and take a tea or a drink, look out the window and after deep breath get back to reading this book.
I'm so glad I've had the chance to read this book!

Reserved to Nakipa

Thank you Maria-Nunes, for sharing this book with me. It's serendipitous that the label used to register this book was handmade by ApoloniaX.

What an interesting book, narrated by a collective of voices instead of just one person. It tells an important story, that must not be forgotten.

This is a wishlist book going your way, I hope you enjoy it.

Arrived safely. Thank you so much!